Tokyo: Japan's Defence Ministry has made its biggest post-war budget request as Tokyo bolsters its military amid worries over China's expanding naval reach.

The ministry wants 5.05 trillion yen ($52.7 billion) for the year, with the focus on boosting protection of a string of southern islands that stretches from Kyushu to waters near Taiwan.

The request on Friday, if approved, would mark the third straight annual defence budget increase and a 3.5 per cent rise on the budget for the present fiscal year to March 2015.

The trend reflects Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wish to build a more active military, with an eye on a possible escalation of tensions with China. The Abe cabinet has already reinterpreted Japan's pacifist postwar constitution to further extend its ability to operate militarily overseas.

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Japan is increasingly wary of China, which is seen by several countries in the region as becoming increasingly aggressive in various sovereignty claims, including a dispute over island ownership with Tokyo.

Among items on the Defence Ministry's shopping list are 20 "P1" maritime patrol aircraft, with a price tag of 378 billion yen.

It also wants five MV-22 "Osprey" – crossover aircraft that have the manoeuvreability of helicopters and the range of airplanes – along with three "Global Hawk" drones and six high-tech F-35 stealth fighters.

The ministry also wants to set aside money to launch a new amphibious brigade, to be assigned to protect the Nansei Shoto islands that lie between the East China Sea and Pacific Ocean.

The augmented budget request comes after the Abe cabinet decided late last year to set aside about 24.7 trillion yen between 2014 and 2019 to spend on drones, submarines, fighter jets and amphibious vehicles, in a strategic shift towards the south and west.

Japan and China have routinely butted heads over the ownership of the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus, with official Chinese ships and aircraft regularly testing Japanese forces.